{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

Should Florida take redistricting out of the hands of elected officials?

Floridians attempted to solve their gerrymandering problem in 2010 by amending the state constitution to require that the legislature draw districts that do not favor a party or incumbent. Predictably, the legislature, as Leon County Judge terry Lewis found, was not able to avoid the temptation of writing the rules to favor themselves. (Photo by Cristobal Herrera/Sun-Sentinel)

In 2012, the Florida Legislature drew new legislative districts that, as Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis found this year, unfairly favored Republicans. In the ongoing lawsuit over the drawing of the districts, recently disclosed emails reveal a concerted effort by Republican operatives to manipulate the districts for partisan benefit. Lewis noted that the partisan districts were submitted to the legislature through third parties and “they managed to taint the redistricting process.”

The irony is that the redistricting process almost always has been tainted no matter which party was drawing the new districts. Gerrymandering, the process by which members of state legislatures draw districts in a way that favors incumbents and the majority party, is an unfortunate American tradition.

This is the kind of tradition Florida voters can do without. A better tradition would be to use an independent commission more likely to yield fair and competitive districts, and real voter choices.

There is an unfortunate truth that even children know. If you fix the rules of the game, the winner is often pre-determined. In our democracy, sometimes the rules are more important than the actual votes. This makes the temptation for state legislators irresistible. When you get to draw your own district, it is far too appealing to draw it for your political benefit.Florida, a state with a more Democrats than Republicans, has prodigious Republican majorities in the legislature and shockingly very few competitive elections. A recent study by Florida Atlantic University political scientists Eric Prier and Kevin Wagner published in Politics and Policy found election years with remarkably little competition. In one election cycle, over 80 percent of Florida senators were unopposed in their primaries. In another, 67 percent were unopposed in the general election. According to the study, in 2004, no incumbent in either state or congressional elections failed to be re-elected. Some years in Florida, it seems like the legislature has drawn itself out of having to answer to anyone.

Floridians attempted to solve this problem in 2010 by amending the state constitution to require that the legislature draw districts that do not favor a party or incumbent. Predictably, the legislature, as Lewis found, was not able to avoid the temptation of writing the rules to favor themselves.

It is time for Florida to remove the power of the legislature to draw its own districts, and pick its own voters. Foxes should not design henhouses. Six states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana and Washington — draw districts for both state and federal elections using independent commissions, with regulations limiting direct participation by elected officials. While not perfect, independent commissions are less likely to be blatantly partisan.